Escape Artists
Escape Pod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: eytanz on November 20, 2016, 11:03:53 AM
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EP550: When They Come Back (http://escapepod.org/2016/11/17/ep550-when-they-come-back/)
AUTHOR: Natalie Theodoridou (http://www.natalia-theodoridou.com/)
NARRATOR: Ibba Armancas (https://twitter.com/ibbaarmancas)
HOST: Tina Connolly (http://www.tinaconnolly.com/)
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They were called Maria, and Michael, and Siobhan, George, Elise, and Sarah, and Violet, Daisy, Jasmine, Rose–
no, perhaps these were not people names, these were flower names, weren’t they?–
and Gabriel, Raphael, Bacchus, Athena, Io, Muhammad,
but these were mythical names, and god names, and prophet names, so hard to tell them apart all these years after the–
all these years after they–
and Natalie, Vasilis, Dmitri, Ousmane…
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The angel is rotting. He’s leaning against the trunk of an olive tree. I examine his body but avoid his eyes, as always, just in case. I would like to have been a man, he’d said once, so I always think of him as one, no matter what his body looks like. Today he has a mane of dark curls that reach all the way down to the roots of his wings. No beard. No breasts. No hair on his body except a little around his crotch.
His skin has turned the colour of a fresh bruise. It won’t be long.
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif) Listen to this week’s Escape Pod! (http://traffic.libsyn.com/escapepod/EP550_When_They_Come_Back.mp3)
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I thought this was well written and narrated, but I had trouble getting into the story. There are hints of a really interesting world here, but I would have liked to see a bit more to give the story some context. The host's outro helped in this regard, I actually felt like the story worked better for me after hearing Tina's thoughts.
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Wow this one was depressing.
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I did not understand this one at all. I am not, however, curious enough to want to learn more about the backstory of angels, humans, androids and how they all messed each other's lives up. Just shrug.
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I had trouble following this one, I'm afraid. I think I may have just been distracted with real-life issues to make it hard to concentrate, though. :/
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I thought this was a bittersweet, sad story. The emotions of the characters: pain, loss, loneliness and hopelessness, are, as we all know, human emotions, too.
The story had themes of change throughout. The androids are making themselves appear less human. The Angel makes himself in the image of the Android's lost lover, and the angels turn into water. In the end, the Android is wanting to turn into stone.
Humans (in real life, and in the story's past) change ourselves. Whether we want to mimic others, change our appearance to please someone else, or make our outsides look like who we really are on the inside.
- J.K. Parsons
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I really wish I knew what the angels actually were in this world. Or maybe I'm supposed to take their name at face value? This was one of the more peaceful post-apocalypse stories I've heard. That final scene with them wading in all the water presumably left behind by many fallen angels was quite the parting visual.
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I have no idea what happened in this story. There was just not enough meat on those bones for me to get a good grip. Sure the writing was nice to listen to, but nice writing by itself doesn't necessarily lead to a good story. A lot more information was needed here to bring the audience along, IMHO.